In my last blog post, I began a bible study, looking at the book of Esther. This post is about the bible story entitled “Esther”, chapter 2.

I have three main points to make…

1. God can use any situation.

I’m sat in front of my laptop and I’m thinking about you.

I’m wondering: What kind of week have you had?

Honestly: I’ve had a week where I have just been too busy. One day consisted of two playdates, a trip to Tesco, followed by a chocolate-button lunch and a freezing cold park walk with two extremely tired children!

That brings me to my first blog point: God can use any situation. Even yours… Especially yours.

How do I know this?

In the book of Esther, King Xerxes (also known as king Ahasuerus,) furiously deposes his wife because she refuses one of his commands. In Esther, chapter 2, the king’s fury subsides and he realises what he has done:

Later when King Xerxes’ fury had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what he had decreed about her. Then the king’s personal attendants proposed, “Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king. Let the king appoint commissioners in every province of his realm to bring all these beautiful young women into the harem at the citadel of Susa. Let them be placed under the care of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women; and let beauty treatments be given to them. Then let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” This advice appealed to the king, and he followed it.

Esther 2: 1-4, NIV.

Here’s the thing: This king deposes his wife and his advisors come up with a plan to satisfy his need for a new wife. Spoiler alert: God uses this situation to save Jewish exiles from destruction. God used this king’s beauty contest to deliver his people from death.

Do you believe He can use your situation?

Sometimes we think that God can’t use our situations. Maybe we have difficult family situations or difficult bosses, like king Xerxes!

Maybe we don’t fully believe in God and we think that He can’t possibly accept us with our past mistakes. Our mess.

Maybe we simply feel like we can’t get this thing called life right! God can’t possibly step into my broken world, can He?

Some of us need to remember that God that turned king Xerxes’ beauty contest into a life-saving rescue mission. We serve a God that turns our everyday lives around and gives them true purpose.

2. Relationships matter.

My second point: Relationships matter.

In Esther, chapter 2, the bible introduces its readers to a guy called Mordecai:

Mordecai had a cousin named Hadassah, whom he had brought up because she had neither father nor mother. This young woman, who was also known as Esther, had a lovely figure and was beautiful. Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter when her father and mother died.

Esther 2: 7, NIV.

Mordecai takes in his orphan cousin, Esther.

Esther is then chosen to be part of the king’s beauty contest. The bible reads:

Every day [Mordecai] walked back and forth near the courtyard of the harem to find out how Esther was and what was happening to her.

Esther 2: 11, NIV.

This guy has character. He chose to raise his orphan cousin and shows devotion and love in all of his actions towards her. He cares about her.

This made me think: Relationships really do matter.

God sees our relationships. He sees our sacrifices and our love for one another. I believe that sacrifice and love we have for one another truly blesses God’s heart. It makes Him proud.

How many of us choose to check out of our relationships because work is easier?

Let’s get real: I find it a lot easier to clean my kitchen floor than to parent my children!

When my daughter is throwing a tantrum and I am anxiously wondering how to handle it… I believe God is simply pleased that I am willing to press in and show up for her. He’s proud that I want to have a healthy mother and daughter relationship.

So, please – don’t shy out of relationship. If you need a chat, if you are feeling lonely – don’t anxiously check out – press in to your people!

Call a friend and say: “I’m lonely.” Make a choice to shut off that laptop and go bowling, or eat pizza with another human somebody. I don’t care what activity you do! But, in your heart, check that relationships are above tasks and to-dos.

3. Leave the rest to God.

Finally, my third point, comes from reading this verse:

But Esther had kept secret her family background and nationality just as Mordecai had told her to do, for she continued to follow Mordecai’s instructions as she had done when he was bringing her up.

Esther 2: 20, NIV.

Esther was obedient to Mordecai and God did the rest. God gives her favour and makes her Queen:

Now the king was attracted to Esther more than to any of the other women, and she won his favour and approval more than any of the other virgins. So he set a royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. 

Esther 2: 17, NIV.

This got me thinking: We need to be obedient and leave the rest to God.

Some of us read “be obedient” and we start mentally compiling a to-do list of things that seem obedient.

Sure, we need to do what we can do. But let’s not try to do all of it. In this story, only God gives the favour; Esther could not get that by her own effort.

I wonder: Are you and I giving God any room?

Remember: He is so gracious. He does not step on our toes; He gives us free will. So we get to choose – Are we going to let Him in, or not?

Maybe you don’t know much about God; I can assure you He is very, very good. If you let Him, He will move in ways that absolutely amaze you. He can do things that our brains can’t fathom.

I know for a fact that I am doing too much at the moment. That this week has been a flurry of… stuff!

Yet, God looks at me and speaks to my heart: “Not in your time, but mine. Not by your strength, but mine.”

Don’t be afraid to take a step back, even when you are getting promoted and good things are happening. Stepping back makes way for God and I can assure you making way for the way maker is always a wise move. Even if it doesn’t look that way to others. Promise.

Conclusion

I’ll leave you with this thought: God can step into our lives, if we let Him.

Let’s lay our mess down, pursue relationship over productivity and take a step back from rushing, doing and controlling this week.